New laws extending periods of paid paternity leave were recently introduced. Fathers who qualify will be entitled to the leave if their babies are born on or after 3 April 2011.

Nine months after the 2006 World Cup in Germany, this country experienced a baby boom attributed to the national team performing well. Working back nine months from 3 April 2011 brings us to the World Cup in June/July this year in South Africa. The difference this time is that babies born on or after 3 April 2011 will see their dads entitled to additional paternity leave and pay.

These new rights have the potential to make life more complicated for businesses, and it would make good sense to start planning for it now so that you have the procedures in place in case you need them, rather than being unprepared next April.

Here are the key points you need to be aware of:

To access these new rights to pay and paternity leave employees must meet certain conditions. They must have 26 weeks' continuous employment 15 weeks before the week in which the baby is due. In addition, the employee must be either:

- the father of the child, with responsibility for the child's upbringing; or
- the partner, of either sex, of the mother, who has the main responsibility, apart from the mother, for the child's upbringing.

Both the employee and the mother, must produce evidence that they qualify for the leave, including a “certificate” from the mother confirming their own entitlement to statutory pay or leave and their relationship with the employee seeking additional paternity leave.

The mother must have returned to work before exhausting their entitlement to maternity. The right to additional paternity leave only arises when the mother returns to work - but the leave need not be taken immediately, there can be a gap. The additional paternity leave can be taken at any time in the period beginning 20 weeks after the baby’s birth and ending 12 months after the birth. The purpose of the leave must be to care for the child.

Employees may take between two and 26 weeks' additional paternity leave. It can only be taken in complete weeks and as one period.

If the leave is taken before the end of the mother's maternity pay period part of it may be paid. Payment is at the same prescribed weekly rate as ordinary paternity pay (£124.88 in 2010/11) and is subject to the same minimum earnings requirement.

Both the employee and the mother must give notice that they intend to take leave at least eight weeks before they wish it to begin. Once the employer has received the employee's notice, it must confirm in writing the start and end dates of the leave within four weeks. There are specific rules where the employee wishes to vary the dates of leave or cancel it.

Even if we do experience a World Cup baby boom next year, the fact that extra paternity leave will only be paid at around £124 per week is likely to restrict the number of dads taking up this option. However, for couples where the mother earns more than the father, there could be more take up of the scheme, helping to increase the upward trend of stay-at-home fathers.

Parallel entitlements exist for couples adopting on or after 3 April 2011

Info source - JCS Human Resources Consulting CLICK HERE